Getting the Lay of the Land

Another very informative day! It was the last day having Marcela (from the CECI office stationed in La Paz) with us here in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. We started out meeting with a few more people from Unifranz, a private university who works with Uniterra with a program that helps women set up, launch and maintain their own businesses. The remainder of the day was mostly exploring more of the city and finalizing logistical details. One of the things that was accomplished was getting a Bolivian SIM card with a data plan for my stay here. (Fun Fact: I got 6.2GB plan for approximately $30 CAD - which really highlights how expensive Canadian cellphone plans are - but I digress). We also explored the surrounding neighbourhood of the hotel. We were able to locate nearby restaurants, coffee shops, ATMs and a small grocery & convenience store. (The Starbucks that is 600m away from my hotel has definitely been pinned on Google Maps!) Another very useful thing that I did was download the Spanish language for offline use on Google Translate as well as download a central/downtown map of Santa Cruz de la Sierra on Google Maps. Both can be used with or without internet which significantly helps navigating and communicating until I'm really comfortable. Tomorrow, the training wheels come off! I will be spending most of my remaining time in Bolivia working with the Fundacion Trabajo Impressa. ¡Estoy emocionado de comenzar!